January 22, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information, contact Ibis Antongiorgi, Press Secretary to Cook County Board President Todd H. Stroger, at 312-603-0396 or by email at iantongiorgi@cookcountygov.com.

President Stroger Praises Committee for Approving Hospital Assessment Ordinance  

CHICAGO, IL - Cook County Board President Todd H. Stroger called today’s committee action approving his hospital assessment proposal the first step in the long process of advancing a new hospital assessment program through Springfield and Washington, D.C. that provides overdue funding for the Cook County Bureau of Health Services and safety-net institutions across the state of Illinois. 

“I thank Health and Hospitals Committee Chairman Jerry Butler (D-3rd District) for his leadership and vigilance in seeking to ensure that Stroger, Provident and Oak Forest Hospitals are able to provide the services that the vulnerable members of our communities need the most,” said President Stroger.

The current statewide assessment, scheduled to expire on June 30, 2008, is a multi-year program that leverages local hospital dollars to garner federal matching funds which are used to provide vital financial support for hospitals that provide care to a disproportionate number of low-income and Medicaid-eligible individuals.

Under the current statewide assessment program, over $1.8 billion in federal matching funds for use by hospitals throughout the state and hundreds of millions of dollars in administrative funds for use by the state of Illinois has been generated since 2005. Although 47 percent of Cook County Hospital patients are self-pay and lack health insurance, Stroger, Provident and Oak Forest Hospitals received nothing from the current statewide assessment program.  

“By advancing our local hospital assessment plan through committee today, we are putting the state of Illinois on notice that Cook County Hospitals must receive funding under any hospital assessment program that it sends to Washington, D.C. for approval,” said Health and Hospitals Committee Chairman Jerry Butler. “Never before has Cook County been a beneficiary of a program designed to provide funding for hospitals who service the families and individuals in need among us. This is immoral and unjust.” 

Like the current assessment program, President Stroger’s ordinance provides much-needed funds for academic and safety-net hospitals, but unlike the current proposal of the Illinois Hospital Association, Stroger’s ordinance proposes to provide Cook County Hospitals with tens of millions of dollars in funding per year.

Assuming the Cook County Hospital Assessment Ordinance gains approval from the Board of Commissioners, it will then be transmitted to the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services for its consideration.   The Department of Healthcare and Family Services, from the proposed assessment plans that it receives, will select one assessment plan or devise its own assessment plan for submission to and consideration by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in Washington, D.C.  If the Department of Healthcare and Family Services plan is approved, the Illinois General Assembly must take final action on the plan before this program is implemented.

Stroger’s ordinance is supported by a broad consortium of area health care institutions, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Chairman of the Illinois Senate Appropriations II Committee, Senator Jeffrey Schoenberg (D-Evanston).   

For more information, contact Ibis Antongiorgi, Press Secretary to Cook County Board President Todd H. Stroger, at 312-603-0396 or iantongiorgi@cookcountygov.com. 

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